Design of an X-Y Table for Investigating And Rehabilitating Human Motor Control

Abstract

Approximately two million stroke survivors in the United States have chronic arm impairment. Despite increasing evidence that an injured human central nervous system (CNS) can reorganize itself with motor practice, patients today are receiving less therapy following a stroke. Robotic therapy devices can provide for lower-cost therapy that would permit the level of motor practice necessary to regain arm function. The proposed research project seeks to design, build, and test a powered X-Y table capable of applying force fields for human CNS studies. The goal is to develop an X-Y table that is capable of applying more effective force fields than existing robotic devices. Initial experiments will be conducted in order to validate that the X-Y table functions as designed and is capable of applying the desired force fields required for the investigation of the human CNS. Once the X-Y table effectiveness has been verified, the system will later be used in tests designed to validate existing kinematic and dynamic models.